Danger of Double Standards

And he and in that context, he talks about the power that he has as an apostle and as a Christian. The the you might say liberty that he has to do certain things that he has voluntarily kind of yielded for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of his his ministry. And in verse number five, he is referring to the power or the right we would say in in our modern our modern vernacular, we would say that Paul had the right to have a wife. Paul was not married, but if he wanted to be married, there was nothing forbidding Paul from being married. He wasn’t under any kind of vow of celibacy or anything like that as an apostle because we know Peter, in fact verse number five actually says that Cephas, that’s Peter, had a wife. So we saw that, we’ve seen that in the Gospel itself, but Peter was married and Paul had just as much of a right to be married as any of the other apostles or servants of the Lord. But notice in verse number five, one little particle of information I think is important for us to remember.

It says this, have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the lord. Notice how he puts it. Why didn’t he just say, have we not power to lead about a wife or have we not power to to be married? Why did he say the word a sister, a wife? And I think I think that’s important, and it’s important to our our purpose here. Of course, the first thing that he’s indicating is that anytime somebody’s looking to get married, anytime a person who is a believer in Christ who is looking to get married or hopes to get married, the first rule is that their potential mate, their potential spouse needs to also be a believer. That is enormously important, enormously important. And that’s indicated by this although not directly stated, that’s not the only consideration and how many how many ladies, how many men have gotten into trouble because they married someone who was not living for God, not walking with God at all, but the person had the name of Christ. They professed faith in Christ, but there was nothing behind it. There’s not really any substance that was there, and that that can get you into heap of trouble very, very quickly.

So it it is important though that two people who are who are getting married are are are, if you will, brothers, brother and sister in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that’s what he’s indicating.

He’s indicating that his wife, this potential wife, would also be his sister in Christ. And so that’s kind of the springboard. That’s where I wanna go when we look at these truths. So let’s pause a minute and ask the Lord to meet with us and help us as we study his word. Our Father, come to you now in the name of Christ. We confess we have no power, we have no ability at all. Lord, we do not know, Lord, every need of every person, but Lord, you do.

And so we ask you that the word of God would go forth in the power of the spirit of God, and that you would work in the hearts and lives of each and every person here and including my own and in my own family. Lord, that we might be the family that you would have us to be, that the families in our church might be strengthened, that we might have families that operate in a way that is biblical, that is godly, that is upright.

And so, Lord, you know what the needs are, work in the hearts of each and every person. If there’s some among us who who need to be encouraged, who are despondent, who are cast down because of different circumstances or or setbacks, please encourage those. If there’s some who need a reproof, Lord, reprove those and set them on the right path. If there’s some that just need to to bask in the joy of having a family that is that is godly and to see the the great work that you do by your word within our families. Lord, give that one joy. Lord, you know what our needs are.

You are our God. You are the head of our church. And so Lord, work in us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife? What brought this to my mind and the reason I pointed out verse number five is because I have observed a tendency in my own life and I have observed in others lives of you know, my acquaintances and friends and things. I’ve observed a tendency to maintain a double standard, a double standard in our family.

And I I honestly don’t, I know that’s a that’s a word that’s maybe that’s maybe attached to a lot of negative things, but I don’t mean it in a very negative way.

We have a tendency within our family to hold a different standard than we hold outside of our family. And as we face in in our families, each one of us, there are no exceptions. I I no, there are no exceptions period. Each one of us faces issues and challenges within our family and sometimes those issues and those challenges are not readily and immediately addressed in the scripture directly. In other words, there’s there’s sometimes issues we have with our children.

For instance, you’ll not find any verse that says, parent, you need to watch who your children’s friends are because that can influence them. Now, are there are there are there scriptural principles that address that question more broadly? Yes. But you’ll not find it customized to the family like you will find for instance in the relationship between the husband and the wife or maybe things related to child rearing or things like that. Those you do find customized instruction in scripture but there are many many issues you face on a daily basis within your home and I face within my home that the scripture does not answer directly within the context of the family. It is and it is the lord’s will.

It is the it is the ideal that the family be the a husband and a wife, a child of god, who marries a child of god, who if you will, spiritual siblings, if I can put it like that without being too kind of weird. That a child of god be married to a child of god and that that puts the lord in the midst of their relationship. You know, in fact, the scripture in first Corinthians does actually addresses the contrary situation where you have a believer married to an unbeliever and there are specific instructions regarding that. We’ve covered that covered that in this month, in this August Family Focus to some degree. But that’s not the ideal. The ideal is each spouse is a believer and the the children then as you know, as they grow in age, they also voluntarily and of their own will trust in the lord Jesus Christ to be their savior individually as well and so what you have is you have a the the idea was though a a family is a is a family but not only a family. It is a physical family, but it is also a spiritual family in with the physical family. They’re both. There’s a a physical element, we might say a human element if you if you will, but there’s also those spiritual ties and those spiritual bonds that bind us together in Christ and so husbands and wives should be brothers and sisters in Christ and and as your children grow, children should be brothers and sisters to their moms and dads in Christ.

That’s what the Lord wants in our family. That’s what we should all want within our families. And the reason why this is important and that’s what first Corinthians nine verse five says. It says, have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife? So that means even in the context of marriage, Paul is just barely, but he is indeed mentioning and he’s pointing out that any relationship between a husband and wife is supposed to be also a relationship as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I wanna say to to you to you fellows and to myself being one of them, being a husband.

That you need to remember, we must remember that our spouse is our sister in Christ. And to the wives, I would say the same thing. We have to remember that our spouse, our husband, your husband is not just your husband. Your husband is also your brother in Christ. And for those of you who have children, you gotta remember that your children are also your brothers and your sisters in Christ and when when you think of it like that, which is a biblical way, see in verse five, which is a biblical way to think about your family.

That opens up another kind of chapter or volume of instruction from the scripture. And in this way, you can take all kinds of things that we find in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, that the Lord doesn’t speak directly to families, but he speaks directly to the body of Christ, to the church. He speaks to brothers and sisters in Christ and you can take those truths and you can appropriate them into your family because remember, you’re not just a husband and a wife, you’re also a brother and a sister. You’re not just a mom or a dad and a and children, you’re also brothers and sisters in the lord Jesus Christ and the the guidance that god gives us for that relationship should be then applied to the relationship between a husband and wife.

And when it is, it will make your relationship better. It will make your relationship better. So the idea is, the Lord’s direction is to take these scriptural principles in our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ and apply those to our relationships with our flesh and blood family members. So, let me ask you a question. Just I just want you to get to get you thinking.

If the Lord gives certain instructions in myriad kind of circumstances, this thing or that thing or this condition or that condition, and you know there’s many many different conditions. Like, as an example, which we’ll look at in a minute, the idea of forgiveness. Does the Lord give certain instructions in scripture about forgiveness? And when we look at that, the context of that is always your brother, you’re forgiving your brother or your sister.

And if he gave us those instructions and he aimed those at our spiritual siblings, if they apply in that case, would they not also apply to spiritual siblings who are also our flesh and blood relatives, our flesh and blood brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and wives and husbands? Does it also not apply? In other words, if it applies to the lesser, does it also not apply to the greater? It certainly does. All the more reason to apply it in that way.

Because God’s standards are right for all contexts, so long as they’re properly applied. And so what I wanna do is on that basis, I want to look at a few kind of high points, a few circumstances, a few, if you will, instructions in different parts of scripture where we can take things that are not addressed to the family and appropriate them to our family and help our family be stronger. Let’s start in in Galatians chapter five.

Good starting point. Good passage of scripture. Galatians five. Let’s start in verse number 13. Now as we go through these various verses, you’re going to be if you pay attention, you’re gonna be very surprised at how many times you see the word brother or brethren, which I know is spoken of primarily in a spiritual sense but it it is a family word and if it applies to your spiritual brother or sister, should it not also apply to your earthly relationships as well? Indeed, it does.

The example of that is in verse number 13. The Bible says, for brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for your for an occasion to the flesh. Now, notice this, but by love serve one another.

Let me ask you a question. How many families operate on the principle of service to each other. That’s kind of unusual, to be honest with you. You know, when you just look at a you look at the way the brothers and sisters interact with each other, You look at it at the way the parents interact with the kids. What do you see a lot of, right? What you see a lot of is is everybody’s pulling and vying. Everybody wants another person to do something for me, right? The parents want the kids to do something for themselves.

The the kids want the parents, of course, to do for them and the siblings always want the, they want, they’re they’re vying for that. Well, you do this for me. You do that for me. Don’t I wanna clean the bathroom, I don’t wanna pick up the clothes, you put, you made a mess, you did it. How many of these kind of circumstances, how many of these kinds of conversations have you had? We’ve had them in our house and I know you’ve had them in your house, there are no pious people among us. This is true of all families.

But the scriptural principle is by love, serve one another. When is the last time that you have, when is the last time you’ve seen a brother or a sister in a family without being prompted, without being forced, just say, hey, this needs to be done, it will help them out, I’m going to step forward and do that thing. They made the mess in the bathroom, but you know what? They made but I’m just going to go ahead and do it because they’re busy and they got things going on and they can’t get to it yet. So, I’m just going to go ahead and do that. You know what that is? That is biblical.

And that is exactly the way that a church is supposed to operate, right? There’s a need, somebody has a need, you just step in and you and you fill that need if possible. You know, somebody is is just had surgery or whatnot. You step in, you say, maybe they could use a meal. Maybe they could use a visit. Maybe they need to have somebody go pick up some things at the store for them because they can’t get out. That’s where you just step in and you buy love because you love that person, you serve one another and the the danger is, here’s the danger.

That little that those little two words by love are revealing. Want to tell you something. One of the reasons that there’s this tension in so many families that of of service, there’s no real service between the siblings and mom and dad and all that, is a lack of love. Because it says, by love serve one another. If there was true love, that love is what prompts you to step in and say, hey, I will do that.

And that’s that’s the principle that the Lord wants us to apply, not just among our brothers and sisters in Christ. Do we not find it so much easier to serve sometimes people that have needs in the church more than at home? Why? If it’s true here, why wouldn’t it be true there? Indeed it is. Romans chapter 15 verse one says this, one to three it says, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Man, if you, listen, if you’ve been married any length of time, if you’ve had kids any length of time, you know that is the MO of families. How can I do my own will? How can I please myself? No, I’m watching my show. No, I’m on the internet. No, I’m doing this. Leave me alone. I don’t wanna do it right now. Listen, that is contrary to the direction of scripture that god that god gives us. He says, and to not to please ourselves, let everyone of us please his neighbor. Is there any neighbor that you have that is closer than the people who live in your home?

If thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself applies to the people across the street, how much more does it apply to the people in your house? Right? Well, that cuts both ways, don’t it? But it’s true. If we apply it rightly, we’ll be more ready to serve and love those nearest to us than those further away.

It says this, let everyone of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. I wonder if I wonder how it would, I know, in fact, I know how it would transform our families. If we took our lord Jesus Christ and his example and we set him forth in our home, in our family, in our relationships between husbands and wives, between parents and children, between siblings. We set our Lord in in the midst of this and says, here is the example.

He out of love served, gave himself. He out of love pleased not himself, but sought to please and benefit the other. Listen, when we talk about Christ as the center of our home, this is what we’re talking about. We’re not talking about having Bibles open in various places in your home. We’re talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and his example being the pattern that we seek to follow.

One of that, one of the ways we do that is by serving one another. Number two, look at chapter five of Galatians verse number 15. Here’s the contrary. Well, let’s start in verse number 14. For all the laws fulfilled in one word even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So what I just just said a minute ago, but the con now here’s the contrast, but if you did bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. Now, we all the time and rightly so, we look at this verse and we talk about you know, squabbles within a church, squabbles among the people of God and that’s a valid way, that’s the that’s the primary way it’s intended. But how many relationships between husbands and wives are marked and characterized by constant bickering and fighting and arguing, brothers and sisters, this is not the way it is supposed to be.

How many relationships between siblings is characterized by constant railing against one another, insulting one another, right? This is real. This is like the typical American home. I grew up in one. All of you grew up in them and you know what I’m talking about. Some of you have probably had fist fights with your siblings growing up.

Some of you have no doubt said very, very unkind things to your siblings. Listen, I have. I have. When I was growing up, oh yeah. Oh, we had knockdown drag outs, oh yeah. But that’s not the way it’s supposed to be in a Christian home. There are your brothers and sisters in Christ.

And ultimately it will harm you, it says, ye bite and devour one another, take heed that be not consumed one of an one of another. Let’s continue, verse 16. This I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts, lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.

But if you be led of the spirit, you’re not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, note these, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, anger, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Now let me ask you a question. Is that present in your home?

Are the descriptions we see here present in our homes? Variance, strife, hatred, anger. I wanna something direct. If these things are present in our homes, there is one reason.

And that reason is in verse 21. It says, of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. We’re talking about the works of the flesh. Do you know why there’s strife in a home for the teenagers among us? Listen, know what know what it’s like living a home with with a brother and sister, I get it. But if there’s constant strife between two two teenage two teenagers or two kids, you mark her down. There is one reason, and that reason is you’re walking according to the flesh.

If husband and wife can’t get along, mark it down. You’re walking according to the flesh. Did you know that the Lord wants us to walk in the spirit even in our house? Not just when we go out, not certainly not just when we come to church, but the Lord wants us to also walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh when we’re inside of our home among our families, with our wives, with our husbands, with our children. Yes, he wants us to do that. Why? Look at verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.

You want we all want a home, you kind of let’s see, we have this utopia. We want this home where everybody gets along and everybody’s happy and there’s love and all that. You know how you do that? Walking in the spirit. As a believer, that’s how you do it.

And so it’s it’s good for us to evaluate evaluate our relationships. The reason why we have so much trouble in our home is because we’re not walking with God.

That’s a cold, pointed, but true principle. Anytime you see the things listed, particularly in verse number 20, anytime you see them listed, you know for certain, based upon verse 20, you know that the Holy Spirit is not the one in control over that situation.

It’s a mark. It’s the fruit of the flesh. It’s the works of the flesh. So, the lord wants us not only to walk in the spirit when it comes to other people out in the in the world, in our job, and in church, and think. No, but he wants us first and foremost to walk in the spirit among the spiritual brothers and sisters in our home. Look if you would and continue down in verse number verse number six. Brethren or chapter six verse one rather. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, lest thou also be tempted.

Bear you one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So many times in a family, when one of the family members falls in some way, it is seized upon. It is used as an angle to one up or used as an excuse to leverage our own will in some situation. And the Lord says, hey, in your home, when you do see someone fall, it should be a cause of mourning.

Verse two is the key, and this is number three, bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. This is the law, this is the principle that the Lord wants to have operating between husbands and wives, between children, between parents and their children. Look if you would at Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two.

Number four is this, humility. Humility. I’m afraid that humility is almost non existent in most homes. Where mom and dad show humility, the children show humility with their parents, or especially with one another, it is almost unheard of. Christian or non Christian, is unheard of. Philippians two verse three, look what it says. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

First Peter tells us we need to be clothed with humility. Would you would you say that in your interactions with your family members that you characterize humility? That and especially when it comes and we’ll get we’ll get a little bit closer to this in just a minute but especially when it comes and usually humility is tested when it comes to correction. And everybody gets corrected at some point or another in a family.

It’s not just the leaders who get it corrected. Many times, it’s the it is it is it’s not a not just the leaders who do the correcting. Many times it is the leaders whether mom or dad that are correcting that are being corrected by their children. Or sometimes husband is being corrected by his wife for his fault. That is a thing. And there is a way to do that, right? There is.

How do we receive that kind of correction? Now, let me let me kind of back up and go at it again. It’s awfully quiet in here. I mean, you guys are generally fairly quiet to begin with, but it’s more quiet than normal. If someone in the church were to come to you and they were to say, I’ll take Devin because I just like to pick on Devin. Someone would come to Devin and say, hey Devin, I saw this, you did this, you offended me, you whatever, you know, whatever.

You ought not do that or I was, you know, whatever. And pointed out a fault in Devin. Is it not true that oftentimes we would take that and we would it might hurt, but we would we would internalize that, you know, because Devin’s, know, Devin and I, you know, he doesn’t live at my house and you know, he you know, it’s kind of our public life. You know, our church church life. And if he did that or if I did that to him and we might take it and oh, it hurts a little bit, and over time we’d internalize it, we would react and we’d say, okay, well, okay, maybe I just need to humble myself and try to make this thing right or whatever.

But in our home, there is a completely different standard. But in our home, there’s there is no response, positive response to correction. Not in any direction. How dare they say that about me? How dare they tell me that I did this or did that? There’s there’s none.

Right? Can you at least give me a little nod that you know what I’m talking about just so I know I’m not I’m not speaking speaking a foreign language. You know what I’m talking about. But if the Lord wants us to receive correction as an example with humility, and esteem others better than ourselves like in Philippians, be clothed with humility in first Peter. If the Lord wants us like that among our brothers and sisters in the church, does He not also want that same humility when it comes to our family?

Our brothers and sisters in Christ who live within the walls of our home? Yes. Yes, He does. Look at Luke chapter six. Luke chapter six. Speaking of humility, look at verse 41.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, note the relational term, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye, that is in thine own eye. Verse 42, either how canst thou say to thy brother, brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye, thou hypocrite.

First cast cast out first the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the moat that is in thy brother’s eye. In families, what I’m trying to describe to you and this is just example after example. What I’m trying to describe you is we have a double standard. We have one way we act and there are church life and we have another way that we act in our in our home and it ought not be.

How many of us when we go in our when we have a have a an issue with with another. We’re trying to find a moat in someone else in our home that we don’t even pause for a second. We just go into a rage to correct that thing or point out that flaw, not pausing for one second to examine. Maybe, maybe I need to look at myself.

It’s almost like we let down our guard, right at home. And and everybody needs a place where we can let down our guard, know, in the right sense to let down our hair, if you have long hair. Everybody needs a place where we can kinda let down our guard, but at letting down our guard does not mean we cease to live by the word of God. Can I get an amen?

Letting down our guard does not mean we cease to live by the word of God. And so the Lord, just another example, the Lord says, hey, the beam and the moat, we ought to examine ourselves before we seek to correct others in our family. That would avoid a lot of conflict, wouldn’t it? How many how many relate how many conversations between siblings have ever happened where it’s like, well, you did this, oh, well, you did that, you know you know how it goes.

Look at Matthew chapter five. Hold your hand in Luke if you would as well because we’re in Luke we’re in Luke seven or six now but I wanna look at Luke as well. Matthew chapter five verse 23.

Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and they’re rememberest that thy brother hath ought, that means anything, against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First, be reconciled to thy brother who is might also be your husband or your wife or your child, and then come and offer thy gift.

See that? Look at Luke chapter 17. Luke 17 verse three. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him and if he repent, forgive him. You know what this is? This is the principle of Hebrews chapter 12 which says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. So listen, if if if there was if you had a brother or a sister in Christ, and there was an issue, there was a conflict, there was a disagreement or whatever, there was an offense of some kind, what’s the right way? What’s the right thing to do?

You know what the right thing to do is? If that matter is of such importance to you that you just You can’t just move on and and just give them grace and long suffering and just move on, because there are times when you can do that and you just go on and that’s it. But if it rises to the point where you can’t do that, the Lord outlines a specific set of, directions to get that thing resolved. You know what that you know what that is? What you’re not supposed to do is just hold it in and get it get bitter. That’s what you’re not supposed to do. And so the Lord says, just like we just read, go to your brother in private or your sister as the case may be, you go to your sister in private and you say, you did this to me, I was offended, I was upset, I felt like it was wrong, whatever. You you you tell them their fault and you provide an opportunity for them to to, to confess that, to seek forgiveness for it, they may know, they may not know, whatever the case may be, you provide them that opportunity and if they receive it, you say well well great, I forgive you, we’re good, I’m glad we got this cleared up. Is that is that the right, is that kind of the overview of the biblical way to deal with an issue between believers, right? Do you do that at home?

Do we do that at home? Why not if we don’t? Listen, if you have a problem with your sibling, is that how you deal with it? Between husbands and wives, if you guys aren’t getting along, is that how you handle it?

Or between parents and children, you know what often happens, we bury it, and we get angry, and now we have bitterness within the family. And that’s how families explode. Long standing bitterness where the scripture was not followed, to deal with conflict. But the Lord wants us to apply this to our family as much as the other. You know, one of the reasons why that you might, if it’s true of you that you might have bitterness in your heart towards your sibling, or towards your parents, or towards your husband or towards your wife, might be because you haven’t followed the biblical pattern to try and resolve it.

Instead, we just buried it, we’ve put it away, we’ve hidden it because we have a different standard for our church life or public life than we do for our home life.

And so that leads us since we’re in Luke 17, let’s just keep reading. Verse four, and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And so obviously the apostles felt like we do and so they said, Lord, increase our faith. We don’t know if we can do this. Verse six, and the Lord said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, Well, let let let me not let me not keep reading there and I think it would be better go to go to Matthew chapter 18 to look at a different perspective.

Matthew chapter 18. This will be our last passage we go to. Matthew chapter 18. Matthew 18 verse 21. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how off shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times? Is it not true? Listen, when you live with someone, the offenses are many. Are they not? If there’s anybody that 70 times seven applies to, it’s the people in your family. You see them far too much.

Some of you are like, amen to that. You know what I’m saying though. You when you’re near somebody, you’re you’re going to have conflict with them more often and and so, this applies most aptly to the people your brothers and sisters within your family. And it says, Jesus said unto him, saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed owed him 10,000 talents, but for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and his chill and children and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord have patience with me and I will pay thee all.

Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him an 100p. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me and I will pay thee all and he would not.

But went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. Now, you know, you guys, we studied this in our city in Matthew not too long ago. So, I wanna ask you this question. You know already what the scripture says about unforgiveness between brothers and sisters in Christ. You see this example here, where someone says, I will not forgive this person.

Is there any unforgiveness in your life and in your family? Between the wife and her husband, between the husband and his wife? You know for the husbands the Bible says that husbands are to love their wives and be not bitter against them. The Lord actually tags us.

So it could be that husbands in particular are in need of forgiveness to offer forgiveness to their wives. So is there a problem of unforgiveness in your home or in your family? You know what the Bible says on it. But what the Lord says over here, He wants to take and bring it inside the front door of our house and set it on the kitchen table and use it in our home.

So here’s my question to you. Do you have a biblical home? And what I mean by that is do you have a home where the principles of God’s Word are what rule your relationships? The principles of God’s Word are what rule and guide how you respond to difficulty, setbacks, conflicts, and problems. Is the Word of God actually an authority in your family or do you have a double standard?

In one context, you do one thing, but at home, it’s completely different. I wanna challenge you, if you have seen that your family, your home has gaps where the word of God is not being applied, I want to challenge you by the grace of God to go before the Lord and say, Lord, help me to make my home a biblical home where I take God’s word seriously and deal with things according to what you have said.

Would you do that? Would you examine your heart and your family, especially those of you moms and dads who are leaders in your family? Will you take a good thorough examination of your family and ask yourself, is home biblical? Do we follow what the Bible says? Would you do that? Let’s pray together.